Westel e



(No'ModeL) W.;E. HAWKINS.

COVERED DISH.

110. 364,016. Pate-n'td May 31,1887.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

WESTEL n. HAWKINS, or 'WALLINGFORD, CONNECTICUT, ASSIGNOR ro SIMPSON, HALL, MILLER a COMPANY, or SAME PLACE.

COVERED DISH.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent N,o.364,016, dated May 31, 1887.

Application filed February 21,1887. Serial No. 228,318. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, WES'IEL E. HAWKINS, of Wallingford, in the county of New Haven and State of Connecticut, have invented a new Improvementin Covered Dishes; and I do hereby declare the following, when taken in connection with accompanying drawings and the letters of reference marked thereon, to be a full, clear, and exact description of the same, and which said drawings constitute part of this specification, and represent, in-

Figure 1, a front View of the dish complete, the cover closed; Fig. 2, a side view showing the frame in partial section, illustrating the automatic bolt; Fig. 3, a detached View show-. ing the bolt connection, enlarged; Fig. 4, a detached sectional view showing the trunnion upon which'thc'cover is hung, enlarged; Fig. 5, an under side view of the keeper, enlarged; Figs. 6 and 7, a modification.

This invention relates to an improvement in that class of covered dishesin which the cover is arranged to turn upon an axis, so as to swing downward under the body of the dish. This construction of dish is applicable more generally to what are called butter-dishes, but is also applicable to various purposes-such as jewel-cases, toilet-boxes, &c. These articles are usually made as plated ware.

In the more general construction of this class of dishes the cover is hung upon trunnions diametrically opposite each other, and so as to turn down one side of the body of the dish, and returning rest upon the opposite side.

The obj ect, of my invention is to construct a dish in which the cover is hung upon an axis adapted to swing in either direction below the dish in opening, and to provide a fastening device independent of the trunnions, and which will be automatic in its engagement and disengagement, and in such a dish, as more fully hereinafter described and particularly pointed out, my invention consists.

A represents the body of the dish, which, as here illustrated, is of hemispherical shape.

B represents the cover, which is of like shape, but of so muchlarger diameter than the body of the dish that it may swing freely over the outside of the lower or body part, A. The cover B is hung in the frame upon trunnions a a, at diametrically-opposite points, and upon which trunnions the cover swings, so that if 7 left free it will fall below the body, as indicated in broken lines, Fig. 2, and there restby the usual ornamental tip, 0, in which is a verticalbolt, I), with a spring, (I, in a recess in the tip below it, the tendency of which is to force the bolt outward, but so as to allow the bolt to be pressed inward, as occasion requires.v

In. the frame, and at a central point above the dish, is a keeper, D. This keeper is constructed with a cavity, 0, corresponding to the upper end of the bolt 6 when the cover is in its fully-closed position. The keeper upon its under side is grooved from the central cavity outward, the groove expanding from the center in both directions, so as to serve as a guide, as seen in Fig. 5, and so as to insure the bringing'of the bolt into the proper position to engage the keeper. The recess 6, into which the bolt locks, is of spherical shape, or so as to present an inclined surface in both directions, as seen in Fig. 3, and the end of the bolt of corresponding shape, so that while the bolt when in the recess will hold the cover in its central closed position the shape of the recess and bolt will permit the bolt to easily escape, as the cover is pressed in one direction or the other, for opening, and so that in closing the cover from either direction, as indicated in Fig. 3,'the bolt will strike the keeper and be depressed to permit it to properly enter the guard. The locking is therefore automatic, and the unlocking requires no attention, except to simply press the cover in either direction from the keeper.

Instead of arranging the automatic bolt in the tip and the recess in the keeper, this order may be reversed, the keeper formed in the tube and the bolt in the frame, as seen in Fig. 6, it only being necessary to the invention that there shall be an automatic bolt between the swinging cover and the frame to secure the cover as it comes to its locked position, and to permit the automatic Withdrawal of the bolt as the cover is opened.

While I prefer to use the bolt as I have described as the simplest and cheapest, the catch may be in the form of a latch, as seen in Fig. 7.

I claim In a covered dish in which the cover is hung bolt adapted for automatic engagement or disover the body upon trunnions diametrically engagement, accordingly as the cover comes to 10 opposite each other and so as to swing beneath its closed position orasits opening commences. the body in opening, and the cover provided with a tip, the combination therewith of an WESTEL HAWKINS automatic spring-catch and a keeper centrally Witnesses: over thecover, the one in the tip of the cover JOHN E. EARLE, and the other in the frame, the said keeper and FRED C. EARLE. 

